March 2025 - TTD Under Pressure and More

Hey there!

Welcome to this month’s Advertising Digest, where we break down the biggest stories and trends in ad tech, streaming, retail media, and more.

Let’s take a look at March’s key developments around:

(1) Measurement & Identity

(2) Amazon & the Streaming Platform Wars

(3) Retail Media

(4) Supply Chain & Curation

(5) Platform Power Moves

(6) M&A and Partnerships

Here’s everything you need to know ⬇️

Measurement & Identity

VideoAmp launched its Cross Screen Planner (VXP), bringing together data from Disney, Fox, Paramount, and Snap to unify planning across linear TV, streaming, and digital. With clean-room infrastructure and access to 65 million devices, VXP is designed to help advertisers manage reach and frequency in one environment. 

Viant acquired Lockr, integrating consumer inbox and opt-in data into its identity graph. The move makes Viant’s identifiers (Household ID and IRIS ID) more actionable in the bidstream, with support for Unified ID 2.0 and Yahoo's Connect ID.

Publicis announced it will acquire Lotame, gaining access to 1.6 billion new consumer profiles. Once integrated with Epsilon, Publicis will have visibility into over 90% of the global adult internet population, positioning the group for deeper AI-powered personalisation and activation.

Amazon & the Streaming Platform Wars 

Amazon launched Complete TV, a new AI-powered tool within its DSP that helps advertisers plan, manage, and optimise streaming ad buys across platforms including Prime Video, Disney+, Peacock, and Fox. The company claims 115 million monthly ad-supported viewers, scaling to 175 million when including all its TV properties.

YouTube is redesigning its connected TV app to integrate third-party subscriptions like Paramount+, Max, and Peacock directly into its home interface. The goal is to eliminate app-switching and become a central streaming hub, directly competing with Amazon’s Prime Video model.

 Retail Media

Target’s Roundel generated $649 million in ad revenue in 2024 and created $2 billion in value for the company, but challenges remain. Media buyers say Roundel’s offerings are overly reliant on managed services and lack upper-funnel solutions. Internal team restructuring suggests Target is trying to unify social commerce and media more closely.

PayPal is taking a unique approach to retail media by aggregating small and midsize merchants into a shared ad network. Instead of building a standalone platform, it’s leveraging its existing payments relationships and first-party transaction data to offer targeted ad opportunities across a long tail of retailers.

The goal is to give advertisers scalable reach and personalisation outside of major players like Amazon and Walmart, while helping smaller merchants monetise more effectively.

Sam’s Club and Nordstrom are investing in in-store video networks that push product ads to shoppers in real time.

Supply Chain & Curation

Curation remains one of the most talked-about - and least consistently defined - concepts in ad tech. For some, it's about premium access and tighter supply paths. For others, it’s a branding exercise masking old programmatic dynamics with a new term.

Publishers like The Guardian have joined The Trade Desk’s OpenPath to improve margins and gain more control. Others, like Warner Bros. Discovery, are testing it cautiously by limiting access to display inventory, citing concerns over transparency and yield.

Marketers are pushing for greater supply chain clarity. That means reducing intermediaries, simplifying SSP stacks, and verifying that ad tech fees reflect true value. Audigent and Magnite have reported positive early results with publisher-led curation, but brands remain wary of vague promises and unclear mechanics.

Platform Power Moves: TTD & Meta 

TTD

The Trade Desk is under increasing pressure on multiple fronts. Agencies are drifting away from the platform, citing concerns over transparency, growing conflicts of interest, and frustration with the AI-driven Kokai interface, which some say consolidates too much control over campaign optimisation. Publisher relationships are also shifting.

While The Guardian joined OpenPath to gain better margins and direct demand, Warner Bros. Discovery is taking a more cautious approach — limiting its OpenPath integration to display and holding back on CTV.

On the product front, The Trade Desk’s hardware strategy took a hit with Sonos scrapping its Ventura OS-powered TV, a setback for its ambitions in connected devices. The platform’s long-standing role as a neutral DSP is being tested as both buy-side and sell-side partners reassess their dependence.

Meta

Meta is exploring principal-based trading, a controversial model where it would purchase its own inventory in bulk and resell it to agencies at a markup. While this could provide revenue stability amid economic uncertainty, it raises significant transparency concerns.

Agencies worry about hidden fees and conflicts of interest — especially since Meta has traditionally positioned itself as a close collaborator through joint business plans. This shift signals a more aggressive commercial posture from Meta at a time when platforms are under pressure to defend their margins.

M&A and Partnerships

• Publicis acquiring Lotame brings a major influx of data to its Epsilon business, expanding its global reach and enabling stronger personalisation capabilities for clients across verticals.
• Viant’s acquisition of Lockr strengthens its identity offerings by connecting opt-in consumer data with its existing ID ecosystem.
• T-Mobile made two ad tech acquisitions to grow its T-Ads business. It acquired UK-based Blis, a campaign planning and measurement company, and completed a $600 million purchase of Vistar Media, a digital out-of-home buying platform.
• Wonder acquired Tastemade for $90 million as part of its effort to build a “mealtime super app.” The deal gives Wonder access to premium lifestyle content, FAST channels, and ad inventory, helping it diversify beyond food delivery.
• Omnicom and IPG received shareholder approval for their $13 billion merger. The deal still awaits regulatory approval, but internal cost-cutting has already started, including layoffs at Acxiom, which now reports to the same leadership as Kinesso.
• Oracle is in advanced talks to acquire a minority stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations, but challenges remain. The company shut down its ad business last year, and culture clashes between a traditional enterprise firm and a social platform may complicate any potential integration.

Thanks for reading this month’s Advertising Digest!

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